Geography
Fulfilling the duties of
formal prayers and Pilgramage, Muslims need to find
the direction and routes leading to al Ka'ba from
viryally any spot on the glope. Ka'ba, the house
of Abraham in Mecca is the point at which Muslims
face when they perform prayers. This is known as
"Qibla."
To
find Qibla from any part of the globe, Muslims invented
the Compass and developed the sciences of geography
and geometry.
The duty of Pilgrimage to Mecca, that each Muslim
must make at least once in his or her lifetime,
is directly responsible for the development of the
science of geography.
Muslims
from as far as Malaysia and Indonesia, from Europe
and Africa found their ways to Mecca. Arab pilots
and the wealth of geographical maps and books developed
in the period from 7th century to the 15th century
were the engine from which the European discoveries
of the 15th century were made.
ibn Battutah
(1304-1368)
Ibn
Battutah (Batutah), b 24 February 1304 in Tangier,
d 1368 in Fès. Arab traveler and merchant.
From 1325 to 1353 he visited many countries of Europe,
Asia, and Africa, including the southern regions
of present-day Ukraine.
Ibn
Battutah's 14th century masterpieces provided a
detailed view of the geography of the ancient world.
map
by Jihani
10th Century
This
is a map of the world made by the Muslim geographer
Jihani in the 10th century of the Christian era.
The names have been translated from the Arabic.
Many Muslim civilisations have been seafaring and
relied heavily on maps.
For
that reason, Muslim societies also studied astronomy
intensely and invented the modern naval sextant.
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